A distraught husband is calling for urgent reforms to interagency communication after what he described as a deeply traumatic and confusing search for his missing wife, who was later found in a vulnerable condition.
Rashida Miller, a 32-year-old non-national residing in Saint Lucia, was located several days after she was reported missing. Her husband, Antoine Anthony, says the ordeal revealed serious shortcomings in how emergency services, law enforcement and medical facilities share critical information during crisis situations.
Speaking on the matter, Anthony recounted spending hours attempting to trace his wife’s whereabouts, navigating multiple agencies with little clarity.
“I went to OKEU Hospital, talking with multiple people, trying to talk to the Fire Service to figure out if they brought her there, who brought her there, and things like that, trying to coordinate that information,” he said.
According to Anthony, it was only later in the process that he received clear information from law enforcement. “Then, as I’m talking to the Fire Service, I get a message from Officer Sonson that she’s been in police custody and that they had found her at a bus stop naked,” he explained.
Anthony expressed alarm at what he described as a breakdown in the flow of information between agencies, despite what he says was visible evidence that his wife was in distress at the time she was found. “So there are multiple pictures and videos of her being distressed right out there,” he stated.
He further questioned how that information did not appear to follow her through the system once she was taken for medical care. “When she gets to the hospital, supposedly she gives a false name, false address, a false date of birth, as if none of the information from her being distressed on the streets made it to the actual hospital,” Anthony said.
Anthony is now urging authorities to review and strengthen protocols governing communication and information-sharing among first responders, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force and healthcare providers, particularly in cases involving vulnerable individuals.
He says improved coordination could spare families from unnecessary anguish and ensure that individuals in crisis receive timely, informed and appropriate care
